I wonder why they didn't consider this? I know MPEG-4 channels are rare in the cable industry, but they released an update to the Premiere software to support MPEG-4 channels long before the Stream was released. You'd think they would have added MPEG-4 support just in case. Unless maybe the hardware isn't capable of decoding MPEG-4. But if that's the case then it's a pretty major design flaw.

Yeah it's been mentioned a few times. Most people only have a couple of channels that are MPEG-4 so it hasn't been a big deal. But apparently the OP's cable provider switched entirely to MPEG-4 except for local channels so it effects him a lot.

Well this answers my question of why my stream stopped streaming a lot of channels a few weeks ago. We're also with Cinti Bell Fioptics. I have a Premium XL Tivo and my husband has an older Tivo HD Series 3. A few weeks ago his Tivo stopped working. He thought it was a cable card problem. The technician was out just a little while ago and said his Tivo HD Series 3 won't work with Cinti Bell Fioptics anymore because they switched to MPEG4 recently and my husbands older Tivo only supports MPEG2. Now I'm disappointed to find that my Tivo Stream I just got last Christmas is so limited to the channels I can still
stream to my Ipad/Iphone.

That's really sloppy on TiVo's part, although I'm somehow not surprised. You'd think they would have figured it out, especially with a lot of interest at least about MPEG-4 on the traditional cable side, and MPEG-4 being a big deal on the FIOS side of the cable world.

Never gonna happen! The S3 platform is dead. The Premier has been out for 3.5 years and TiVo is on the cusp of releasing a new Series 5. There is no way they are going to dedicate resources to updating a platform that hasn't been sold new in over 3 years. Not to mention this is a problem that already only effects a small percentage of their customers anyway. Most cable companies don't use H.264 yet and those that do only use it on a small subset of lesser watched channels. Companies like the OPs that did a wholesale switch to H.264 are very, very, rare.

Never gonna happen! The S3 platform is dead. The Premier has been out for 3.5 years and TiVo is on the cusp of releasing a new Series 5. There is no way they are going to dedicate resources to updating a platform that hasn't been sold new in over 3 years. Not to mention this is a problem that already only effects a small percentage of their customers anyway. Most cable companies don't use H.264 yet and those that do only use it on a small subset of lesser watched channels. Companies like the OPs that did a wholesale switch to H.264 are very, very, rare.

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In light of the fact that they are in the process of deploying a fix to the S3 (and even supposedly S2's) to address the expired cookie problem, i wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the possibility. Especially considering the fact that H.264 support has already been deployed to the Aussie S3 platform and should be a fairly easy port.

In light of the fact that they are in the process of deploying a fix to the S3 (and even supposedly S2's) to address the expired cookie problem, i wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the possibility. Especially considering the fact that H.264 support has already been deployed to the Aussie S3 platform and should be a fairly easy port.

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Even though H.264 was supported on the platform in Aus/NZ they would still need to beta test it here in the US before pushing the release out to unsuspecting customers. That requires resources and I just can't see them dedicating any of their resources to an 8 year old platform. Especially when they are in the midist working on a new platform.

The fixes they're pushing out will fix the expired cookie and nothing more.

Even though H.264 was supported on the platform in Aus/NZ they would still need to beta test it here in the US before pushing the release out to unsuspecting customers. That requires resources and I just can't see them dedicating any of their resources to an 8 year old platform. Especially when they are in the midist working on a new platform.

The fixes they're pushing out will fix the expired cookie and nothing more.

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I never claimed otherwise. I'm simply saying that your dismissal of any possibility of their deploying H.264 support for the S3 at some point is not supportable. It may be unlikely, but it is possible and none of has sufficient information to calculate the odds. The longer it takes for some major player to convert to H.264 in a big way, the less likely it becomes, but it never becomes totally out of the question.

Let me ask you this - given the possibility that CableCARDs may be replaced by s/w enforced security, why should anyone buy a TiVo if TiVo may or not deploy a s/w solution to existing platforms if and when that day comes?

In either of the above scenarios, you could end up with a really bizarre situation - S2s (and even S1s) would still work by utilizing a set top box while more recent TiVos would not.

There are really 3 possibilities = I might die, the King might die, or the horse could learn to sing.

It may be unlikely, but it is possible and none of has sufficient information to calculate the odds.

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I have been with TiVo since the beginning and they have never in their history gone back and released a major update for a discontinued box. In fact the only precedent for this new S3 release is when they released an update for S1 units, many years after they were discontinued, to fix an issue with daylight savings. And that release only contained that one single fix, nothing more.

As for the downloadable security thing... If that happens, and it's actually possible to update via software, then I expect TiVo to release that software for whatever the current generation box is at that time. If it happens next year then I would full expect them to release it for the Series 5 but not the Premiere units. If you don't like that prospect the I would avoid buying a Premiere right now.